CMOS small signal switchable adjustable impedence terminator network

ABSTRACT

A terminator circuit for connection to a network can be fabricated and used within CMOS-SOI (complementary metal oxide semiconductor—silicon on insulator) for carrying small logic level signals for connecting data from a network&#39;s first circuit to a network&#39;s second circuit in which a network&#39;s input terminal connects a terminator circuit to the network&#39;s second circuit to act as a terminator on the data line passing data from said first circuit to said second circuit. The terminator circuit has a reference circuit coupled to a terminal circuit. The reference circuit has SOI devices back to back source coupled CMOS-SOI devices to each other for a tuned center reference voltage node, with their bodies connect to upper and lower level power supplies respectively. An upper level power source is connected to one side of the reference voltage node and a lower reference voltage power source is connected to the other side of the reference voltage node. The voltage level above the common tuned reference voltage and a lower level voltage is supplied to the terminator&#39;s corresponding input terminal circuit control nfet and pfet mirror devices whose bodies are also connected respectively to lower and upper level supply power to control each of their turn on voltages. Resistors of the reference path establish the swing voltage of the terminator as being that approximating an ideal 50 ohm split resistor terminator. A terminator inhibit control input circuit is coupled to the reference circuit and input circuit&#39;s to enable and disable the terminator network with a switching control signal. One or more terminal circuit adjustment sections enable one or more levels of impedance adjustment.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to the following concurrently filed application(s):

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,290, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: CMOS Small Signal Terminator and Network. naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/593,187, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: SOI Small Signal Terminator and Network, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/583,185, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: Method for use with a Terminator and Network, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,942, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: SOI Small Signal Switchable Adjustable Terminated Hysteresis Receiver, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,289, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: CMOS Small Signal Terminated Receiver, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/583,055, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: CMOS Small Signal Switchable Terminator Network, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,789, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: CMOS Small Signal Switchable and Adjustable Terminator Network, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/583,188, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: CMOS Small Signal Switchable Impedence and Voltage Adjustable Terminator Network, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,805, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: CMOS Small Signal Switchable Impedence and Voltage Adjustable Terminator Network and Receiver Integration, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,680, filed May 30, 2000, entitle: CMOS Small Signal Switchable Impedence and Voltage Adjustable Terminator with Hysteresis Receiver Network, naming David T. Hui, inventor; And

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,802, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: CMOS Small Signal Terminated Hysteresis Receiver, naming David T. Hui, inventor; and

U.S. Ser. No. 09/580,943, filed May 30, 2000, entitled: SOI Small Signal Terminated Receiver, naming David T. Hui, inventor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to terminators which are applicable to metal oxide semiconductor on insulator (MOS-soi) with triple wells integrated circuit technology and which are particularly useful for terminator networks.

This related application(s) and the present application are owned by one and the same assignee, International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y.

The descriptions set forth in these co-pending applications are hereby incorporated into the present application by this reference.

Trademarks: S/390 and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y., U.S.A. Other names may be registered trademarks or product names of International Business Machines Corporation or other companies.

BACKGROUND

For signal interfaces between devices terminators have been used, as described for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,426: entitled “Active termination circuit for computer interface use”, granted May 31, 1988 to Alexander Stewart for Rodime PLC, in an active termination circuit for a computer interface for reducing line reflection of logic signals. Such terminators have used a first and second resistor combination to permanently connect to a signal line that couples a plurality of peripheral devices to one another. The other ends of the first and second resistors are connected through a switching device to a positive voltage supply line and to logic ground, respectively. When termination of multiple devices was required, a plurality of resistor combinations were provided but on/off control of the switch in this example was achieved by one control that is located remote from the termination circuit systems. Integrated circuit interconnection structures have also used precision terminating resistors, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,369, granted in October, 1980 to Anantha et al. for IBM.

As will be illustrated for chip interconnection, when resistor terminators are used in thin film semiconductor integrated circuits such as those used in metal oxide semiconductors (e.g. CMOS) today, they create hot spots which cannot be adequately cooled, so such resistor terminator circuits which create hot spots cannot be used in metal oxide semiconductor applications to provide terminators for chip to chip connections on chips using IBM's new sub-micron MOS (CMOS) technologies where because of the high currents used in these networks it is difficult or impossible to meet all the cooling and reliability requirements required for commercial performance. It has become necessary to invent a solution to interfacing devices which can be used in such environments on chips, and used for terminators in networks of chips and devices where there is a need to transmit digital data therebetween without overshoot and undershoot in signal transmission between the chips and devices or systems. These connections need to operate at a faster speed, accommodating data rate speeds ranging into hundreds of Mhz and Ghz.

The creation of a terminator which particularly may be fabricated for high speed metal oxide semiconductor on insulator (MOS-soi) applications with triple wells in integrated circuits is needed.

If, as I have shown in this and other applications, a desired fast data transmission terminator network can be created, as is useful for digital data, eliminating or reducing overshoot or undershoot in signal transmission between chips and between systems, it would be even more desirable to have additional uses for the terminator, and I have discovered how this can be done.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to CMOS-SOI fabricated terminator network making a CMOS small signal switchable adjustable impedance terminator network possible which is not useful for fast transmission of digital data, eliminating or reducing overshoot and undershoot in signal transmission between chips and between systems, in serial links and data buses, for minimizing ringing and similar noise problems, for providing electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection, particularly in high speed metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit applications, and mixed vender technology interface communications, but also one which can operate in different packages as well as in system tuning for perfect termination. The CMOS terminator circuit includes a terminator inhibit control input circuit coupled to the terminator reference circuit and its input circuit to enable and disable the terminator network with a switching control signal. One or more terminal circuit adjustment sections enable one or more levels of impedance adjustment.

The demand for fast data transmission has pushed the data rate into hundreds of Mhz and Ghz. Therefore it is advantages to reduce the signal swing so that the signal reach its desired digital ones or zeros voltage levels faster with lower power and with less noise generation.

With the terminator inhibit control input circuit and one or more terminal circuit adjustment sections for multiple levels of impedance adjustment the terminator circuit which is useful for high speed transmission and interoperability between chips and systems can be even more useful by providing a way to be able to control and adjust the impedance of the terminator so that it can operate the part in different packages as well as in system tuning for perfect termination. This will allow a part to have multiple usage. This can be a much needed cost saving chips part number reduction or a high volume ASIC OEM useful circuit.

The present invention is able to switch into high impedance so that the driver can take control of the line and drive out for the bi-directional data buses that are used in all computer systems today.

The circuit is able to turnoff all currents to support the CMOS leakage test so that chips with defects can be found quickly and easily. The circuit is able to adjust impedance of the terminator so that this circuit can have multiple usage.

Furthermore, the circuit is able to fine tune the terminator to have the desired reflection for the nets. This helps to overcome any process tolerances.

These and other improvements are set forth in the following detailed description. For a better understanding of the invention with advantages and features, refer to the description and to the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the prior art Resistor Terminator Network.

FIG. 2 illustrates the present invention CMOS small signal swithable adjustable impedance terminator network.

FIG. 3 is a graph having two curves depicting input currents as a function of the input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator network constructed according to the present invention and a ideal 50 ohm terminator.

FIG. 4 is a graph having curves depicting the input current as a function of the input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator constructed according to the present invention and curves of the upper and lower power supply currents as a function of the input voltage.

FIG. 5 is a graph having curves depicting the input current as a function of the input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator constructed according to the present invention and curves of its currents to the upper and lower power supplies as a function of the input voltages. Also having curves of the corresponding input current, and the currents to the upper and lower power supplies for an split resistor terminator as in the prior art.

FIG. 6 is a graph having curves of the power consumption as a function of input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator constructed according to the present invention and the power consumption of a split resistor as in prior art.

FIG. 7 is a graph having 3 curves depicting the input current as a function of the input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator constructed according to the present invention. Two impedance cases are shown.

My detailed description explains the preferred embodiments of the invention, together with advantages and features, by way of example with reference to the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Resistor terminators were used in prior art as shown in FIG. 1. Where resistor 13 is connected to node 11 to the upper power supply VDD and the other end of resistor 13 is connected to the node 10 and is also connected in series to resistor 14, The other end of resistor 14 is then connected to node 12 to the lower power supply VSS. The value of the resistors are set so that node 10 has a bias voltage equal to the center of the in coming signal swing and the parallel combination of the resistors matches the characteristic impedance Z0 of the transmission line that it is connected to, so that no reflections will occur and a clean signal can be obtain. However, these resistor terminators are prohibited to be used because of the significant power that is dissipated in them. It is also made difficult in the construction of these resistor terminator on chips using the new sub-micron MOS technologies because of the high currents in this network making it impossible to meet all the cooling and reliability requirements.

The need is for a terminator network adapted for MOS that can match the characteristic impedance of the line. The need is for a terminator network which is fast and suitable for small signal swings and may also be used in a mixed technologies communication.

The terminator network needs to have low current flow and low power consumption. It is also desirable to have a terminator network that provides ESD protection at the input of an attached circuit. These features are all present in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and reference will be made herein to FIG. 2 to FIG. 7 of the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a network 20 carrying signals from a first circuit 25 to a second circuit 24. An input terminal 10 connects the terminator circuit 21 to the second (input-output) circuit 24. The first circuit 25 may be operating at a different voltage[s] then the second circuit 24. Generally, the terminating circuit 21 and the second circuit 24 will be constructed very close together physically in the same electronic system whereas the first circuit 25 communicating over net 20 may be remotely located in the same electronic system or even external to the electronic system in which the terminating circuit and the second circuit 24 are located. It is preferred that the electronic systems in which the circuits 21, 25 and 24 are located are digital systems such as computer systems, and the network 20 may be connecting different components such as different processor or memory buses or data links or may be connecting different electronic components between two computer systems or other electronic systems which need to communicate data, digitized electrical signals or electrical signals.

In the terminator circuit 21 illustrated in FIG. 2 is comprised of a reference circuit 30 and an input circuit 31. The reference circuit 30 generates two reference voltages on node 14 and node 15. These two voltages can be produce independently on separate paths or a single path with series connected devices as shown in FIG. 2 as a prefer embodiment. This reference path is comprised of series connected devices. The source of pfet 51 connected to the upper power supply 11 and its drain connected to node 15, and from node 15 it is connected to the gate and drain of nfet 52 the source of nfet 52 is connected to a tuned reference voltage node 100, node 100 is then connected to the source of pfet 53, the gate of pfet 53 is tied to its drain and both connected to node 14, and from node 14 connected to the drain of nfet 54 and the source of nfet 54 is connected to the lower power supply 12 or ground in this case.

The gate of pfet 51 is connected to node 111 which is also connected to the gate of nfet 36 and to the Terminator Inhibit Control on-chip input (91), which is also connected to the input of an inverter which is made up of pfet 41 and nfet 42, the output of the inverter is connected to node 112 and is connected to the gate of nfet 54 and the gate of pfet 35. The source of pfet 35 is connected to node 11 or Vdd, and the drain is connected to node 14. The source of nfet 36 is connected to node 12 or gnd and its drain connected to node 15.

Node 15 is then connected to the gate of nfet 16. Node 14 is connected to the gate of pfet 17. The sources of nfet 16 and pfet 17 are tie together to the input terminal 10 or PAD, then it is connected to net 20, where it then connects to the driving circuit 25 as stated in the beginning.

The operation of this preferred embodiment is as follows. This terminator network can be disabled with control signal 91 equal to logic level “1”, and enable with a logic “0”, When 91 is at “1”, node 111 is at VDD voltage and node 112 is at gnd. The pfet 51 and nfet 54 are not conducting because of their gate voltages, nfet 36 conducts and pull node 15 to gnd, pfet 35 conducts and pull node 14 to vdd. This also turn off pfet 17 and nfet 16 respectively. The terminator network is now “OFF ” in an non-conduction mode. At this point the driver can then be turned on to send out the data, for example, for leakage test.

When the control signal 91 is ‘0’, pfet 51 and nfet 54 turns on and pfet 35 and nfet 36 are now ‘off’. Node 100 is tuned to a reference voltage level equal to the center of the in coming voltage swing between the logic ‘1’ and ‘0’ voltage levels, from herein this center voltage will be call Vcenter. This will set node 15 at a voltage which is a vt above the Vcenter and node 14 at a voltage which is a vt below Vcenter. When the terminal 10 is driven to rise above the Vcenter, The gate to source voltage in pfet 17 is driven to below vt and more, and it starts to turn-on and conduct current to 12 or ground, whereas gate to source of nfet 16 is below vt and therefore no conduction, no current will flow in nfet 16 to 11 or VDD. On the other hand When terminal 10 fall below Vcenter, The gate to source voltage of nfet 16 is above vt and turn-on to conduct current to 11 or the top power supply VDD. Now the pfet 15 is off since the gate to source voltage is above vt.

A feature of this preferred embodiment is the back to back gate to drain connected configuration of nfet 52 and pfet 53 in the reference circuit, and this tracks to its corresponding mirror like nfet 16 and pfet 17, and therefore controls each of their turn on voltages and so no excessive through current in nfet 16 and pfet 17 will occur, and since at its logic states one of the input devices 16 or 17 will be off, and therefore achieves lower power.

FIG. 2 shows another section that is used to adjust the impedance of the terminator. It is made up of adjustment section having a adjustment circuit 33 and control terminal 95, which is connected to node 211, node 211 is then connected to the gate inputs of a inverter pfet 241 and nfet 242. The output of this inverter which is the drains of pfet 241 and nfet 242 are connected to node 212. These are the control signals for the impedance adjustment circuit 33. Node 14 carries the upper reference voltage to the transmission gates pfet 271 and nfet 272 inside circuit 33, with their gates connected to node 211 and node 212 respectively, the output of the transmission gates are connected to node 214 and gate of input pfet 217 and the drain of pfet 235, the source of 235 is connected to node 11 or Vdd. The gate of pfet 235 is connected to node 212 which is also connected to the gates of nfet 272 and nfet 274 in the two transmission gates. Node 15 carries the lower reference voltage to the transmission gates pfet 273 and nfet 274 inside circuit 33, with their gates connected to node 211 and node 212 respectively, the output of the transmission gates are connected to node 215 and gate of input nfet 216 and the drain of nfet 236, the source of nfet 236 is connected to node 12 or GND. The gate of nfet 236 is connected to node 211 which is also connected to the gates of nfet 271 and pfet 273 in the two transmission gates. The sources of pfet 217 and nfet 216 are connected together and also connected to the input terminal 10. When terminal 95 is at “1”, node 211 is high and node 212 is low. This turns off all the transmission gates and turn on pfet 235 and nfet 236 which pull node 214 to node 11 (Vdd) and node 215 to node 12 (Gnd).

When 95 is “0”, then node 211 is low and node 212 is high, This turns off the disable devices pfet 235 and nfet 236. This will turn on circuit 33 and passed the reference voltages in nodes 14 and 15, and sent them the gate of the input active devices pfet 217 and 216 respectively. Pfet 217 mirrors pfet 17, and nfet 216 mirrors nfet 16, Therefore if pfet 17 or nfet 16 turns on, pfet 217 and nfet 216 will follow and turn on in a parallel path, This will reduce the terminator impedance. The present FIG. 2 shows one adjustment circuit 33 for the impedance adjustment for illustration, more adjustment circuits of circuit 33 and it's controls can be placed in parallel if desired for more level of impedance adjustments.

The results of the small signal terminator network as constructed according to the present invention are shown in the following figures. The center of the input voltage swing is at vdd/2 for this illustration. Other input voltage swing can be design as well by changing the device size of pfet 51 and nfet 54 in the reference circuit.

FIG. 3 is a graph having two curves depicting input currents as a function of the input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator network constructed according to the present invention and a ideal 50 ohm split resistor terminator. As shown the impedance of the present invention can be match very closely to the ideal resistor terminator.

FIG. 4 is a graph having curves depicting the input current as a function of the input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator constructed according to the present invention and curves of the upper and lower power supply currents as a function of the input voltage. The input current at the upper half cycle of the input voltage is directed to flow into the lower power supply, and current of the lower half cycle are directed to flow out from the upper power supply. Other then the bias current, there are no through current from the upper to the lower power supplies.

FIG. 5 is a graph having curves depicting the input current as a function of the input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator constructed according to the present invention and curves of its currents to the upper and lower power supplies as a function of the input voltages. Also having curves of the corresponding input current, and the currents to the upper and lower power supplies for an split resistor terminator as in the prior art. This shows the large difference in the power supply currents at and near the center of the swing between the prior art and the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph having curves of the power consumption as a function of input voltages for the CMOS small signal terminator constructed according to the present invention and the power consumption of a split resistor as in prior art. This shows the power which the prior art consumes is a lot more then the present invention in small signal applications.

FIG. 7 is a graph having curves of the two impedance input currents as a function of input voltages and a flat curve showing no current when the terminator is disabled and in high impedance state.

In terms of ESD protection, When the circuit described in the present invention is powered up, It has a low resistance path to one of the power supplies depending on the input voltage level, If the input terminal voltage move more then about 0.7 volts outside the upper or lower power supplies, the parasitic diodes and the parasitic bipolar transistor in the pfet 17 and nfet 16 also turn on to further reduce the input impedance, hence improving the performance of the ESD protection. This performance is so effective that an additional ESD protection device may not be necessary to protect this circuit or the input/output circuit connected to this terminal there after. The parasitic elements in pfet 17 and nfet 16 are active even when the devices are not powered which provides significant ESD protection during handing of the device. The implementation shown result in a clean signal on network 20 with no or minimum reflection and noise generated in the system and a fast, solid, clean and reliable small swing can be obtain for a point to point nets as well as a cleaner multiple drop net. This implementation provide the fastest transmission of data and signals with much lower power consumption as compared to split resistive termination networks.

This preferred embodiment also provides a way to disable the termination function allowing in case of bi-directional buses to turn around and send data freely without any near end termination which can limit the signal swing and increased power. It also can support the CMOS leakage test by this disable function which is a key low cost test to eliminate process defects.

While the preferred embodiment to the invention has been described, it will be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in the future, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall within the scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construed to maintain the proper protection for the invention first described. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A CMOS terminator circuit for connection to a network carrying small logic level signals from a network's first circuit to a network's second circuit in which a network's input terminal connects a terminator circuit to the network's second circuit to act as a terminator on the data line passing data from said first circuit to said second circuit, comprising: a terminator circuit (21) including a terminator reference circuit (30) generating logic ‘1’ and logic ‘0’ reference voltage levels and being coupled to a terminator input circuit (31) in said terminator circuit having a first and a second control device, and wherein said terminator circuit is switchable from a first state to a second state by a switching control signal (91) supplied to said reference circuit and to said input circuit (31), said terminator input circuit being coupled to said network input terminal (10) for connecting the network's first circuit to the network's second circuit, saod referemce circuit being tuned to a voltage level equal to the center of the incoming voltage swing between said logic ‘1’ and ‘0’ voltage levels of a reference circuit to provide to said input circuit a stable and well centered threshold voltage, said network input terminal being coupled to an adjustment section (33) for adjusting its terminator circuit input which is coupled to the network input terminal for connecting the network's first circuit to the network's second circuit; and wherein when the input terminal (10) is driven to rise above the center of said tuned reference voltage, the gate to source voltage in an input circuit (31) first control device (pfet 17) is driven to a lower voltage, and said input circuit first control device starts to turn-on and conduct current to a lower level power supply (12 or ground), whereas when a second control device has no conduction, no current will flow to a upper level power supply, but when the input terminal (10) falls below center of said tuned reference voltage said second control device turns on to conduct current to said upper level power supply, while said first control device is off.
 2. The CMOS terminator circuit according to claim 1 wherein said reference circuit tracks said first and second control devices of said input circuit, and controls each of their turn on voltages and so no excessive through current will occur.
 3. The CMOS terminator circuit according to claim 1 wherein said terminator circuit includes a terminator inhibit control input circuit coupled to said reference circuit and said input circuit's having a first and a second control devices to enable and disable said terminator network with said switching control signal (91).
 4. The CMOS terminator circuit according to claim 1 wherein said terminator circuit can be disabled with said switching control signal (91) and when the terminator circuit is “OFF” in an non-conduction mode the driver can then be turned on to send out the data.
 5. The CMOS terminator circuit according to claim 1 wherein said terminator circuit's said adjustment section (33) is able to be used for adjusting the impedance of the terminator.
 6. The CMOS terminator circuit according to claim 5 wherein said adjustment section has an adjustment circuit (33) and control terminal (95) to provide control signals for the impedance adjustment circuit (33), and a reference circuit second node (14) carries a upper reference voltage for said control terminal (95) and a first node of said reference circuit carries the lower reference voltage for said control terminal and when control terminal (95) is at “1” this turns off the impedance adjustment circuit, while when control terminal (95) is at a “0” this turns on impedance adjustment circuit and causes the reference voltages in said first and second nodes to pass to said input circuit.
 7. The CMOS terminator circuit according to claim 6 wherein multiple adjustment section impedance adjustment circuits are provided for multiple levels of impedance adjustment. 